With a mission to inform, empower, celebrate and advocate for British Columbia's current and aspiring business leaders, BCBusiness go behind the headlines and bring readers face to face with the key issues and people driving business in B.C.
Issue link: http://digital.canadawide.com/i/325830
bcbusiness.ca July 2014 BCBusiness 61 "The Chinese ski market is a long-term thing. It's really in its infancy right now," Nicolson says, noting that while he's keen to prospect the new market, he's far from willing to stake the future of Sun Peaks on Chinese tourists. investing in the Chinese tourist requires an under- standing of some market and cultural idiosyncrasies. For example, according to Alice Lin, a director at CAL Travel and Tours and treasurer of the Canadian Inbound Tourism Associ- ation, "Chinese people want to do the most number of things in the minimum time." Roy Chou of TPI Silkway says the Chi- nese also plan and book holi- days last minute, unlike their European, British, American and Australian counterparts. This presents challenges for on-the-ground operators who want to engage with the Chi- nese market but have a book- ing system and tradition that requires advance reservations and often a non-refundable deposit—conditions that Chou says the Chinese tourist would find onerous. Diet is another issue: cold continental break- fasts often de rigueur at mid- range accommodations don't cut it with Chinese guests. They want a hot breakfast and quite often prefer a traditional conjee, or rice porridge. Some operators in the mainstream North American hospitality industry have adapted opera- tions to meet this demand. For example, in 2011, Delta Hotels and Resorts introduced "Ni Hao" at one of its Alberta properties. The program, which trains guest services person- nel to greet Chinese guests in their own language and offer amenities such as slippers and tea in the rooms, has now been adopted at all of the chain's B.C. and Alberta hotels. Chou says such initiatives are important when it comes to interacting successfully with the Chinese visitor. He also says a substantial portion of TPI Silkway clients combine vacationing with fact-finding about education, business and investment opportunities, estimating that 10 per cent of the company's guests end up making investments or immigrating to Canada. And the typical trip to Canada is changing. The Chinese visitor of old thought nothing of embarking on a frantic 10-day whirl- wind cross-Canada tour starting on the West Coast and includ- ing stops at Banff, Toronto and Montreal. Chou says he is now seeing the emergence of niche Chinese travellers, for example driving clubs and camera buffs, looking to book trips in B.C. In addition, there's an increasing interest in dedicated trips to just B.C. and Alberta rather than a coast-to- coast Canadian odyssey. This is good news for the marketers at Des- tination B.C., souvenir shop owners and other operators that lie in the path of these bus tours, but not necessarily great news for the operators that have much more invested in the "Super, Natural B.C." brand. It boils down to a rural-urban divide over how B.C. should allo- cate its tourism marketing resources. Beyond the Victoria-Vancouver-Whistler corridor, B.C.'s increasing obsession with the Chinese tourist market gets luke- warm reviews. "Destination B.C. and the Cana- dian Tourism Commission are pull- ing resources away from traditional markets, which are the U.S., U.K. and Germanic Europe," says Evan Loveless, executive director of the Wilderness Tourism Association, whose more than 80 member com- panies and organizations peddle a tourist product (sport fishing, adventure tourism, bear viewing and other nature-based ventures) that's based mostly in the rural, remote reaches of the province. "Basically, the Chinese market has no relevance to the wilderness, adventure and ecotourism sector. They're simply not calling to book trips with our members." Amy Thacker, CEO of the Cariboo Chilcotin Coast Tourism Associa- tion, shares the skepticism. She says B.C. has been down a similar road before with the Japanese and Tai- wanese. In those cases, the market never matured to the point where travellers began booking trips in big numbers with the guest ranches, fly-fishing outfits and other nature-based operators that characterize her region, which flies by the catchy handle, "Land Without Limits." "For the most part we haven't been a good fit for the Chi- nese market, with the exception of Barkerville," Thacker says, referring to the refurbished Cariboo gold rush town with a strong historical link to China. "And I really don't see great potential for us in that market." But with the tide of Chinese tourists now usurping tra- ditional visitors from Europe and the U.K., it's a market the province can't afford to ignore. Back at the bustling Richmond offices of TPI Silkway Canada, Roy Chou sees no end in sight to his company's growth potential, and believes one day some of those Chinese tourists might even be a force to be reckoned with on the slopes of B.C.'s ski resorts. "I think there's still huge potential. Vancouver is a gateway to the Pacific Rim and the rest of Canada," Chou says. ■ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ p056-061_ChineseTourists_july.indd 61 2014-05-29 10:08 AM